Nothing Special

We have just been enjoying the Spring weather at our house(except for today!) The boys love to be outside. Charlie screams every day when we get home and I put him down in the kitchen instead of outside. So most days we play outside when we get home until bath or dinner time! A huge advantage of our house is that I can watch them from the kitchen window! the backyard is fenced in so they are not going too far! Charlie literally just walks around with a stick. he is happy as can be as long as he has a stick! He is one more mess!

Just some pictures I have on my phone! If I don't save them I am afraid I will lose them!!

These two going to the golf course

He is so big and so sweet

Pizza picnic at school- so thankful Cookie came too

Just enjoying dinner

a boy and his stick

These brothers missed each other while one was home and one at the farm



30!

I cannot believe I am 30! I am so blessed at this point in my life so I cannot complain one single bit. I have a wonderful husband and two precious boys. There is nothing else I can ask for!
For my birthday I requested a trip with Nate. We have not been on an extended trip with each other since our honeymoon! I love snow skiing and Nate has been wanting to go so we booked a trip to Jackson Hole. Only after we booked it did I realize that it is one of the most difficult skiing mountains. Nate had never been but I knew he would be ok. We left early Thursday morning and we were in JH by 1pm! We had a good afternoon of getting gear and dinner in town. Friday was our first day to ski. Let's just say it is a miracle our marriage survived that day. Nate was super frustrated bc skiing was a little harder than he expected. He survived but was not a happy camper. Friday night we went to a wonderful Italian restaurant called Nani's. It was soo yummy!! Saturday Nate was ready again and he did so great! We got his skis adjusted so they did not keep coming off and we had such an awesome day! He skied every blue that I wanted! We stopped for a beer mid afternoon on the mountain and then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon on the slopes. It was a great day!! The hot tub was very relaxing after a full day on the slopes! As sore as we were on Sunday we were ready to go again. We had another great day! I am so proud of Nate. He skied down every blue and I did not feel like there was anything I missed out on! We even made it to the far side of the mountain which only has one "easy" way down. We wanted to make it over there just to say we saw it! Sunday was my birthday so we actually went back to the Italian place bc it was soooo good. They were so great and gave us a glass of champagne to toast and a huge tiramisu to end the night. The weather was perfect and the mountains were gorgeous! We loved every minute!!
We enjoyed each others company and we came back refreshed and ready to see our boys! It is so important to spend time with your spouse and I am so thankful that we have grandparents that were willing to keep the boys. They stayed with my parents 2 nights and Nate's parents 2 nights. It worked out so well and I am so thankful for them!!!

Update on the boys

It has been a while since I have given an update on what the boys are like these days!

Whit is 3 and is just getting so big! I look at him every day and think he is taller than the day before and I am just shocked at what a big boy he is. He is such a great kid. He does well in school and has fun with his friends. He loves playing with Charlie and can make him laugh! He still loves books. His mind is going all the time and he is talking all the time now too! I love his imagination more than anything. He makes the simplest things into something totally different. The only problem his imagination is causing is some dreaming :) He wakes up a few times a night and is either scared of something or is thinking about something. He listens to EVERYTHING Nate and I say. If he overhears us talking about something he did he will repeat the whole story of how it happened. Thankfully it has been pretty on the weekends so we have been able to be outside and get some energy out! He still takes a good nap every afternoon. He always sleeps longer than Charlie. We start bedtime about 7 still bc it is such a process. He usually sits and reads after we have left til about 8:30. He wakes up about 6:15 most mornings. He is still very routine and likes to eat the same thing for breakfast every day(a bagel and milk). One of the funniest things he has said lately was last night... talking about how he played golf yesterday with Nate. He said he wanted to go back but he wanted mommy to come too so he asked if I would change into a boy so I could play with them. HA! Hilarious!
I see glimpses of him understanding the story of Jesus more and more. I pray often that we are telling him the best way for his heart to understand. I have had numerous conversations when he asks lots of questions. He loves the Jesus Storybook Bible and definitely has favorite stories(the giant). I am praying for the Easter season! He wants to be just like his daddy and I love it! There are no words to express the love his daddy and I have for him. He is a precious child with the sweetest heart! The older he gets the more "crazy boy" he becomes but he is still my sweet boy!

How big does he look here!!! Big boy cords with boots!

Charlie is getting so big too! I feel like he is finally getting taller and fatter :) He is still as much of a mess as ever and keeps us on our toes. He is just funny though. He repeats everything Whit says. Obviously it is not clear but you can tell by the sounds that he is repeating him. He can tell us the animal sounds pretty well too. He LOVES books these days which is a major change. Of course he only likes books with animals and knows which pages he wants out of certain books. He eats pretty well when he wants to. He doesn't really like fruit which is totally opposite of Whit. He walks really well now and is just funny to watch him waddle. He wears 12- 18 mo clothes now. He still goes to sleep about 6:30- 6:45 every night. He is just tired and so we just literally go put him in his bed and he is asleep in 2 minutes. He usually naps pretty well at school and will nap for 2 hrs. At home its never more than an hour though. So strange. He still only has 6 teeth but I think more are coming bc he has been kinda fussy at night and hasn't napped as well at school over the past week. He wants to be in the middle of everything and is not going to miss out! We have had some issues with biting and I am just hoping they will stop soon. If you get in his space do not be surprised if you get hit. Oh he is so bad :) We love our crazy Charlie too and I love more and more that these brothers have each other!!

He had natural "devil" horns for 2 days straight! Could not get them down! I am in for it!!

Tee shirts and diapers could be one of my favorite things

February

I haven't posted since the snow nightmare bc it took me that long to get over :) Not really but we have not had much going on. We have had crazy weather for the past 3 weeks and have actually seen snow fall three weeks in a row here. That is so not normal in AL! This week has just been a waste. Monday I had to get Charlie early bc he was running a 103 fever.... ear infection. Sweet baby felt AWFUL! Tuesday and Wednesday they cancelled school bc of the threat of bad winter weather. Thankfully Tuesday Mom kept Charlie and cuddled with him all day and Deedee played with Whit all day. Wednesday mom kept both boys until I could come home. Well finally Wednesday night at 6 it started snowing. It snowed really hard for an hour or so. It was soo pretty! It was right at bedtime so Whit just watched out his bedroom window. They of course called school off again so we played for a little bit on Thursday morning. Charlie face planted as soon as we got out there so he was done. We watched Whit and daddy from the comfort of the couch. Thankfully Deedee was off school too so she came to play so I could go to work. I am sooo thankful for grandmothers! I do not know what I would have done without them this week!
Happy Valentine's Day! The boys have valentines for all their friends(thank you Pinterest). I love all the decorations and sweet things for valentines but I never do much. Nate and I have no plans but that is ok. I love him all the same.
Here are some random pictures over the past couple weeks....

Thankfully Dede built a good snowman.

A random pretty day!

Happy Valentine's Day

SNOW NIGHTMARE 2014

 A full recap so I do not forget this down the road.....
Let me start at 8:45 am on Tuesday morning (Jan 28th). I got a call from school saying that Charlie had busted his lip really bad and I had to come take him to the dentist. So I left work to get him and we went to the dentist. There were lots of flurries around but it was just dusting around.  I got him back to school about 10. I was pulling in the parking lot and Debbie texted and said they were letting out at 10:30 and to let her know if I needed her. I was not worried at all bc it wasn't doing anything so I left the school about 10 and went back to work. Well when I got back to work it started getting worse and at 10:35 I got an email saying school was letting out. So I got in my car and headed to school. I got in traffic on Hollywood Blvd right at the exit. I slid twice going down the little hill by Starbucks. An hour later I made it to the school. I parked my car down the street to avoid the hills by school. Walked in my heels praying I would not bust trying to get to them. I got to the school about 11:45. Once I was there I got really nervous and realized I was not going to make it home. There are so many hills getting to our house. I was so full of anxiety and I could not calm down. The boys were great. Thankfully their teachers were all there too and helped so much. Nate was determined he was going to make it to us. He began his adventure from Pelham. He was stuck on 459 for hours and finally did a u-turn to get to an exit. He made it about 2 miles away from our house and walked in to get us clothes. He got back to his car to try to make it to us. Once he realized that was not going to happen he went to his parents house. We were well taken care of at school and they did a wonderful job. We had dinner and movies. When it was bed time I had a room with a crib and Whit's cot. Whit was coughing so bad that he kept Charlie up so I finally gave Charlie to his teacher Mrs. Cindy and she walked him to get him to sleep. She put him down in their room but at 1:30 I heard him crying. So I started walking him up and down the halls. I finally got him to sleep about 3 in my arms. We were all three laying in a corner trying to sleep. About 3:30 Whit woke up with a dream and it startled Charlie so he woke up again. Finally at 4:15 we were all trying to sleep. I think I slept for 30 minutes. All I kept thinking was daylight cannot get here fast enough! About 6:10 the boys woke up and so we got up and just read books in the room. The school had breakfast for us about 7:45. Thankfully Katherine and my uncle came and picked us up about 8:00 am on Wednesday.  We were able to get showers and a little more comfortable. Nate called and said he was going to start hiking from his parents to get to us. Thankfully he got on a 4 wheeler and got to Dave and Sharon's around 9:15. I have never been more happy to see him in my life! We stayed there a while and Nate got my car to their house. We left about 2 and went a very round about way to get to Debbie and Jim's house. I was so happy to be at their house!! Finally at 3:30 on Thursday I got home with the boys.
It was a long exhausting adventure that I hope we never have to do again. The snow was pretty and thankfully Whit got to sled at Deedee and Jimbo's house.
I am extremely grateful for MBBC ELC. They handled everything very well. Mrs. Cindy, Mrs Katie and Miss Aubrey are the best teachers I could ask for. They helped me with my boys more than they ever should have. I cannot have imagined being a teacher in this position. Tuesday night there were no kids crying(except for mine) and it was amazing.
I am also thankful so much for our daddy. He worried himself sick over getting to his family. He hiked to our house and carried out 4 bags worth of necessities. He is absolutely the protector and head of our house and he could not stand the fact that we were stuck with out him. I love him for loving us so much!!!

I took this about 3:15am

The only picture of all of us. Whit wanted to get warm and was not happy

Happy at Deedee and Jimbo's

Sledding with Daddy

Finally at home sledding on the tiny bit of snow!

Charlie is walking

Charlie started taking some steps here and there around Christmas but he is finally in a good rhythm and is officially a walker. We took him 2 weekends ago to get some new shoes. Of course we got white keds!
I cannot get a good picture of him walking but here are a couple.

Just a few pics from our weekend. The weather was beautiful!! We love our jumpy house from Cookie and Doc!

Saturday morning at 7:15. Ready to play!

The End of 2013

It is crazy how much happens in a year. I feel like the years fly by with kids. It makes me sad that they are going so fast but at the same time I love each new stage! 2013 was a great year for us as a family. Sweet Charlie joined right at the end of 2012 so 2013 started by getting used to our family of 4! Unfortunately we had a stay at Childrens to start off the year but thankful that we made it the rest of the year without going back! We decided in March that we needed to find a bigger house since we now had 4. We were so lucky to sell our house extremely quickly. It took us a little longer to find a house we liked but in June we closed on both houses! We love our new house and are very thankful to have more space. Whit grew so much this year physically and emotionally(personality). He is such a big boy now and I could not love that boy any more. He did have his first set of stitches but I know it will not be the last! We got him potty trained this summer and he did great! Charlie started school when I went back to work in March. He did really well. He got dedicated in July at church. We all enjoyed our family beach trip with my family and more farm trips than I can count!!! My sweet grandfather passed away in September but it was a good reminder of our life on this earth. It is so fleeting and there is so much more to life! We took the boys to their first Auburn game this fall and had a blast! For Halloween I had a cowboy and a tiger! We had wonderful holidays and loved spending so much time with family! 2013 could not have been better! Nate is busy with work and we are more blessed than we should be! Looking forward to 2014!

We ended the year with a trip to the beach. My family started this tradition a few years ago and I must say it is one of our favorites. last year we missed it bc Charlie was a newborn so we were glad to be back. We enjoyed spending time walking, riding bikes and hanging out with family. My cousin, Sumner, got engaged on Sunday when we were there so we were so excited to get to celebrate with them!!

Celebrating Sumner and Drew

The boys thought the jets in the tube were great

Love this sweet boy!

This house is perfect for all of us

These 2 are best buddies

The boys loved riding in this!

sweet toes in the sand